Chapter Forty-Four
The Talons never showed up. Not in the hours that my crew spent taking people back to their homes and families, or the time we spent tearing apart the House of Silk, looking for any sign of where the Spider might have scurried off to, and any record of her evil deeds.
Not even when we questioned the Spider's employees using the silk ribbons that they had used against the victims. Honestly, I wanted to get information out of them in the old-fashioned way—torture.
But the silk was faster, and we were certain of the results.
Unfortunately, the Spider had been smart and kept her home a secret.
None of her employees knew where she lived, nor did they know who her other employees were—the murderers, abductors, and bone-cleaners.
I kept them ribboned just in case any talons came to investigate the screams coming from the House of Silk.
The plan was to have the employees reassure the officers that all was well and send them on their way.
But as I said, they never arrived. Even knowing how lax they were in their duties, it surprised me.
There were other businesses on either side of the House of Silk, and we'd made a significant amount of noise.
The rush of clients running out should have warranted some attention at the very least. Of course, all of those neighboring businesses were similar in nature to the Spider's, with possible illegal activities lurking beneath the legal.
And as for the clients, none of them wanted to get involved in a Talon inquisition.
So we were undisturbed during our search and interrogations.
I sent Drellan back to the Reprisal with the Argaiv boy, who had nowhere to go.
We weren't about to take him to his father—that evil son of a bitch—although I had to talk myself out of finding the man just to murder him.
But I didn't want him in that horrible place either.
All of us rested easier knowing the boy was under Drellan's protection on the ship.
As for the Ricarri boy, his family lived inland, but a few of the freed captives came from the same city and offered to see him home.
It was hard for me to let him go. I wanted to see him safe myself.
But then I realized that my desire stemmed from a need to make amends to another Ricarri boy, the one I had harmed.
I wanted to return one boy to his family so I could forgive myself for taking another away from his. And that was all kinds of wrong.
Instead, I gave the boy a few gold coins—his share of the money we'd found in the Spider's safe.
I told him to keep the coins hidden until he could give them to his parents, and then I saw him on his way with the adult survivors who were accompanying him home.
All the freed slaves got a portion of the Spider's hoard, but I made sure to save the bulk of it for the families of the murder victims. Unfortunately, there were far more dead than alive.
The money wouldn't make up for the loss of their loved ones, but at least the families would have something to prove that justice had been delivered.
Except that it hadn't been fully delivered yet.
“Enough.” Vasren's hand came over my shoulder and shut the book I'd been skimming. “It's morning, Kat. You need some rest.”
“No, I'm fine.” I stood up and went to the bookshelf.
We were in the Spider's office. Most of it had been packed up so I could look through it on the ship, but there was one shelf I hadn't searched yet.
“There must be a record of another property.
Maybe a deed or receipt of sale for equipment.
There's no loom here. So she must weave the silk somewhere else. If we find the loom, we find—”
“Katai!” Vasren grabbed my hand and turned me toward him. “Enough, my love. We will find her, but you need rest first.”
“I'm fine, Vas!” I yanked my hand away. “Did Sion find all the missing people who came home without their memories?”
“Yes, and you were right about the ribbons. He restored their memories. Although after the first one, he adjusted the restoration a bit.”
“How so?”
“It was too hard on the victims. So he commanded them to remember who they were and that they were taken, but not what happened to them during their enslavement.”
“I'm impressed that he came up with that. I must remember to praise him for it.” I turned back to the books.
“Katai, enough!” Vas turned me back around. “You're exhausted.”
“I'm fine.”
He just stared at me.
“I hurt a child,” I whispered.
“What?”
“A Ricarri boy. I hurt him.”
“Kat.” Vas shook his head. “I know the boy you're referring to.
You scared him. Yes. And it was wrong. You shouldn't have involved an innocent in that dirty business. But hurt him? I think it was more painful for him to learn his mother hurt other children than for him to sit in that glass box with sand flowing around his feet.”
“I did that too.”
“No! You revealed her evil. You didn't take a mother from her son. She did that.” He pulled me into his arms. “It's done, Katai. Tonight, you saved many children and their families. Let that be enough. Move on. But honor that first child by never making that mistake again.”
“Yes, you're right. I have to learn from my mistakes.”
Vas leaned back to smooth my hair. “I told you on the ship that I support this. I said I want to follow this path with you.”
“You've changed your mind?”
“No. I'm just angry. I'm so very angry, Katai.”
“I'm sorry, Vas. I should have never asked—”
“Great Gods, Mate! I'm not angry at you.
I'm angry that something as terrible as this has gone unnoticed by the very people whose job it is to protect the innocent.” He blinked rapidly, but a tear escaped his eye.
“How did they not know? There must have been rumors. Stories. How could they ignore them?”
I brushed his tears away. “I thought I'd seen the worst this world has to offer, but I hadn't.
Last night, I faced a level of evil I didn't know existed.
I mean, sure, I've heard horror stories.
But I thought a crime like that wouldn't go unpunished.
Funny, that I, a vigilante, still harbored some faith in His Majesty's Talons.” I looked down at the teardrop on my finger. “That faith is gone now.”
“Kat.” Vasren's jaw clenched.
“No.” I rubbed the liquid into my cheek as if transferring his pain to me. “I know there are good people in the Hall of Talons. I know they try. But they can't save everyone, and they don't see everything. Neither will we.”
“No, but others will see what we don't, and they will come to us.” He took my face in his hands. “When they do, we will listen. We will not turn people away.”
“Vasren,” my voice broke on a sob, and I hugged him tightly. “Vas.”
“We're just starting, Kat. This horror will make us stronger. Better. We will take our rage and use it to drive ourselves forward. We will expand our reach and our knowledge.”
“Vas.”
“It's all right. I can compromise. We hand over information when we can, but I won't hesitate to kill when necessary. You can rely on me.”
“Vas!” I pushed back to look up at him.
“Yes?” He lifted his eyebrows.
“I just wanted to say, I love you.”
Vasren stared at me. Then he bent his head to kiss me sweetly. “I love you too, Mate.”
“Now, what are we going to do with that little boy?”
“First, we have to figure out how to get Drellan to let him go.”